CA regulators approve solar power proposal

California energy regulators voted today to invest more than $3 billion in solar power the largest investment of its kind in the country. KPBS reporter Beth Ford Roth has more.

The California Public Utilities Commission approved a proposal similar to Governor Schwarzenegger's "Million Roofs Initiative" that died in the legislature last year.

The plan will provide roughly $3 billion in rebates over the next 11 years to home and business owners who purchase rooftop solar systems. That's supposed to generate the equivalent of six power plants worth of energy.

PUC President Michael Peavey calls the plan groundbreaking.

Peavey: "This is the time to be bold, this is the time to strike out anew, this is the time to reach out as far as we can and be as dramatic and bold as we can to ensure that California again is a world leader here."